Beautiful Mind
by GinGitsuneIX
Summary: The future is formed by a series of complex choices. No one knows this better than the members of Team Bade. However, can each of them make the right choice when deception and lies brew between themselves? What is Haruka hiding that could spell the death of them all?
1. Denial

**1: Denial**

It had started with small things; randomly zoning out for a few minutes, pausing in sentences, her eyes flickering around the room every so often. Igawa only noticed the odd behaviour for the first time when he walked into the kitchen one night wiping his greasy hands on an old towel after a day's work in the garage. He had been working on his beloved van, adorning it with new upgrades in its system and a few good coats of polish (such a sophisticated vehicle deserved to look just as good on the outside as it did on the inside in Igawa's opinion). It was the team's day off, so it was only Igawa and Haruka in the large house. Dai had left early on his motorbike after a hearty breakfast, Juliet had waltzed away with a bounce in her step informing no one in particular that she was going shopping, and Mamoru had slept in and also decided to go on an outing himself, murmuring something about cake as he left through the front door, his trusted cane in hand.

Haruka was standing at the kitchen bench, seemingly preparing the ingredients for that night's dinner, as was her routine at that time of the night. Igawa was about to continue on his way to the fridge for a much needed drink of cold water when he noticed something off with the scene in front of him.

The hand holding the kitchen knife was frozen in the air, the girl's gaze blank as it bore holes into the steel sink in front of her. But closer inspection showed the girl's silver eyes unfocused, as though observing a scene play out in the distance.

Igawa had stood in the doorway, puzzled at the girl's statue like stillness.

"Haruka, you okay?" he called out, then waited for a response but received only heavy silence. There was no indication that Haruka had even heard him, despite her being only a few feet away from him. Slightly alarmed, Igawa quickly advanced until he stood behind her and firmly grasped the blonde's shoulder.

Haruka jerked at the sudden contact and whipped her head around to face the techie with wide eyes and a sharp inhale of breathe. There was something close to a mix of fear and confusion clouding her wide gaze, worrying the man further.

"You okay?" Igawa repeated; his voice laced with concern at her frightened reaction. The hand holding the girl's shoulder unconsciously tightened as his stomach began to churn. The man had no idea why Haruka would be so startled by a simple touch.

Haruka didn't say anything for a few agonizingly slow moments, just stood there transfixed, as though her body had been put under a spell. The techie noticed how her eyes continuously flickered slightly to the left of his cornrowed head.

Finally, Haruka's tense frame relaxed and her widened eyes went back to their usual calm state, a small reassuring smile replacing the tight line her lips were in. Not a trace of her previous fright remained as she stood, torso twisted around to look at the worried man directly.

"Yeah, I'm okay. I was just daydreaming a bit, sorry." She replied apologetically, breathing a light chuckle. Igawa kept his gaze firmly on the girl, unconvinced that her weird trance was simply a day dream. _That wasn't normal, something was definitely off…_

Haruka noticed his scrutinizing look, and then dropped her gaze to the floor guiltily, reminding Igawa of a puppy caught stealing its owner's shoes to hide in the back yard. The awkward silence that followed confirmed the lie, and Igawa could feel his chest constrict slightly with anxiety. "Was it a vision?" he asked faintly, trying hard to keep the worry out of his voice.

Haruka's cool silver eyes looked up tentatively at Igawa's dark ones through his square glasses, before dropping back down to her feet that fidgeted nervously. "…yes" she replied with uncertainty, looking uncomfortable under Igawa's unfaltering gaze.

_A vision…_ Igawa thought to himself. That would explain her lack of awareness when he first called her. "Is it something we should know about?" He asked gravely, knowing how useful her foresight can be for 'Team Blade' on their missions – her precognitive abilities had saved the members' lives enough times for them to place their faith in her visions.

Haruka shook her head with more certainty, turning back around to face the kitchen bench before replying "No, nothing like that. It didn't really tell me much; I just saw a few images of a few buildings. There was nothing that stood out about them." Haruka resumed chopping a carrot as she added "I may see something more later, but at the moment it's of no help."

Igawa wearily sighed, convinced of Haruka's explanation. These kinds of visions were not uncommon, where Haruka sees a few images in her mind rather than a full scenario. Igawa dropped his hand from Haruka's shoulder down to his side and made his way to the fridge where he finally got his bottle of water before retreating to the doorway, pausing his steps to turn back to face the girl who was humming a soft tune as she continued to calmly chop vegetables. "I'll be on the computer, so just give me a shout when dinner is ready."

Haruka waved a hand dismissively with a low hum of understanding, not bothering to turn back around. Recognizing that there was nothing left to be said, the techie continued to make his way to his beloved computer set where he planned to go through more coded gibberish in preparation for a few upcoming missions. He also mused quietly to himself that he should probably get in contact with some of the other Network members to share information and debrief.

The incident was forgotten and never crossed the man's mind for a number of weeks.

First mistake

* * *

><p>"Haruka, have you lost some weight?"<p>

The blonde momentarily stopped chewing a mouthful of her dinner to look up at the tanned beauty sitting across from her at the dining table. Haruka's eyebrows scrunched up a bit in confusion while she finished off her mouthful of food before replying. "No, I don't think so. Why do you ask?" She added curiously as she regarded Juliet calmly.

"It's just that you seem thinner than before, and your clothes look a bit big on you for some reason." Juliet continued to carefully look over Haruka for a bit before turning to face Igawa on her right. "Igawa, what do you think?"

The techie's hand holding his chopsticks stopped mid-air, half way to his awaiting mouth to cast his gaze over to Juliet before also looking at Haruka seated on the opposite side of the table. "I don't really know..." Igawa commented before stuffing his mouth with his delayed mouthful of food. Placing his chopsticks down on the table, he leaned back in his chair as he narrowed his eyes, taking in Haruka's thin wrists and how her red long sleeved top seemed to hang off her narrow frame. Examining the child before him, he began to notice other things as well. "Actually, I think you might be right, Juliet" he stated evenly. "You do seem kind of thinner than before, and you look kind of tired as well" he mused, scrutinizing the shadows under her eyes and how her eye lids seemed to droop as though they weighed more than they should, willing to be shut to lull the girl to sleep.

Haruka laughed nervously, feeling extremely uncomfortable under the strong gazes of the two adults before her. "No, I really don't think so. It's probably just your imagination" she offered quickly with a reassuring smile.

"No. They're right. You have lost weight" a deep voice cut through the conversation before anyone else can get another word in. The three of them turned to regard Mamoru who continued to calmly eat his meal, slightly surprised at the unexpected input from the blind swordsman.

A heavy silence fell over the dining table as everyone was lost in their own thoughts, the only sound interrupting the silence the rhythmic ticks of a clock and the sound of Dai wolfing down his meal, seemingly oblivious to the tension at the table.

The moment of quiet was broken when Mamoru took a long drink from his cup, placing it down to resume his comment. "I barely see you eating when you're not at the table with the rest of us, and even then, your portions are smaller than they used to be. You also seem to be less attentive lately, so I'm guessing you're not sleeping well, either."

After another moment of silence, realizing that Mamoru had nothing left to say, Juliet, Igawa and even Dai – who paused his rapid consumption of food for a moment – all turned to face Haruka, clearly expecting her to say something.

Feeling extremely uncomfortable under the strong gazes of the three adults, Haruka hastily stood and excused herself, murmuring something about needing to clean the kitchen as she made her hurried retreat, dirty cutlery in hand.

Igawa and Juliet looked at each other curiously, then shrugged off the girl's odd behaviour and continued eating quietly, occasionally exchanging a few words about their day.

As the casual air returned to the dining room, unseeing eyes behind shades remained fixed on the door where the girl had exited from, brows furrowed and lips pressed into a thin line. After a quick internal debate, Mamoru decided against telling the other members of his team what he had heard in the middle of the night on a number of occasions in the past few weeks.

Mamoru had been woken up in the middle of the night by the sound of the girl's quiet sobbing, and the subtle but distinct smell of blood.


	2. Abnormal

Chapter 2: Abnormal

The delicate tendrils of winder was finally melting into the warm glow of spring, escorting with it the colourful buds of flowers, fresh blades of grass, pleasant puffs of perfumed wind, and the appearance of a bright sun, much welcomed by the members of Team Blade.

It was a surprisingly warm day – even for the beginning of spring – and the five occupants of the large house in the heart of Tokyo found themselves in a good mood, made better by the lack of a mission in the last few days. Dai had complained that he was bored with the lack of activity in their area of the city, but was harshly chastised by Igawa – the optimist that he is – that it was good news for the community if they had less to do, as it meant the streets were safer.

The sun had reached and passed its peak, beginning to dip under the shadowed city line, staining the sky in rich shades of orange, yellow and blushes of deep burgundy bleeding into a royal blue. Mamoru was outside in the yard, swinging his sword with perfect precision, lacking a single flaw in his technique. Dai lay comatose on his bed curled up with his black and white cat, rhythmic light snoring coming from the still form, taking advantage of the cosy warmth to indulge in a long nap.

Igawa and Juliet lounged around in the large open area being used as a study/rec-room by the crew, doing their own thing – Juliet splayed over a couch lazily flicking through a fashion magazine, and Igawa tapping away on his multi-screened computer set, completely absorbed in his own digital world – when Haruka exited her room quietly, smoothly making her way down the flight of stars until she reached the entrance hall, pulling on a dark hoodie over her long sleeve shirt.

Igawa noticed her presence first despite the headphones blaring obnoxious rap music into his ears, which he removed to hang around his neck loosely as he diverted a part of his attention to the girl pulling on a pair of runners, but never taking his eyes off the screen or slowing his rapid typing. "Haruka, where you going?"

The girl shrugged a shoulder as she knelt down to tie her laces "Out" She replied simply, offering no explanation.

The hands flying across the keyboard stopped as the owner of said hands swivelled around in his office chair like a Hollywood movie villain to regard the girl incredulously. Even Juliet looked up curiously at the sudden silence, gaze flickering between the other two occupants in the room.

After a few more moments of heavy silence, Igawa leaned forward to supporting his weight on his elbows resting on his jean clad knees. "What do you mean by you're going 'out'?"

"It means I'm going out of the house for a while." was Haruka's monotone response.

"Where to?"

"Anywhere"

"By yourself?"

"Yes."

"No." Igawa said with finality, leaning back heavily in his chair, crossing his arms over his chest. Haruka finally stood up from her kneeling position, having finished tying her laces and turned her head to look at the techie across the room, her face void of any expression.

Juliet was now sitting upright in her seat, the shiny magazine lying forgotten on her lap in favour of observing the usually cheerful two stare each other down as the tension in the room grew heavy with every passing second.

Igawa continued to look at Haruka with narrowed calculating eyes, greatly irked by the girl's sudden and unexpected attitude. What's wrong with her? She's never acted like this before… Igawa contemplated bemusedly in his head.

Seeing that Haruka was not going to say anything, Igawa continued his small lecture with a strained voice; "You already know that it's too dangerous for you to go out by yourself without any form of protection."

Haruka then turned around to face the male, leaning her back against the white wall while crossing her arms in a similar defiant manner to the man addressing her. "I went to school by myself for a while and survived. That is, before I was pulled out of it and away from my friends to another suburb. Again."

This sentence was said evenly, as though she were commenting on the weather, but the words and the silent accusation still stang harshly in the chest of the techie. He knew that making Haruka drop out from school without a proper good bye to her friends was a little cruel, and he did feel really guilty about it, but he also knew – just as much as Haruka did – that it was necessary, not just for them but to also keep her few friends from being dragged into their mess.

With a sudden spark of irritation Igawa quickly and firmly retorted "You were under constant surveillance the whole time, and may I also remind you that you got caught up in some pretty serious yakuza business, and you were very close to being killed, and even almost had your friends and Kilo killed as well."

Igawa regretted his choice of words the moment they left his mouth, seeing Haruka's form flinch at the verbal attack, the girl's formerly blank stare widening slightly and her lips pursing tightly with poorly concealed hurt.

Haruka's head suddenly dropped as she turned her body towards the door and reached a hand out to grasp the door knob.

Igawa jumped to his feet, ready to advance if Haruka made another move to leave. "Tohyama Haruka, do not take a single step out of that door." he warned in a voice lower than his usual cheery tone. To his relief, Haruka's hand stopped as it touched the door knob, her body tense and rigid.

Juliet was now also on her feet also, greatly disturbed and alarmed at the silent hostility buzzing between the two people on either side of the room. What's going on? She thought frantically, seeing the anger simmering in the usually bright man and the cold aloofness leeching out of the young girl. She was most surprised by Haruka's frightening behaviour, unused to the girl being anything but happy and vivacious.

However, Juliet could understand where Haruka's frustrations may be coming from, as this house pretty much acted as a prison for the girl, never being allowed to leave without everyone knowing exactly where she was, what she was doing and who she was with.

With that in mind, Juliet carefully observed the girl once again as she addressed Igawa with slight hesitation; "I think you should let her go, Igawa, at least for a bit."

Igawa's head snapped around to stare at the anxious woman, eyes wide with shock and mouth slightly agape. Even Haruka's frozen form seemed to turn ever so slightly in the woman's direction, quietly listening to her words.

Before Juliet could get another word in to defend her argument, Igawa was suddenly growling out in a menacing tone "What are you talking about Juliet? Of course she can't go outside by herself, it's way too dangerous!"

Juliet's arched brows furrowed at the tone being used on her, and so retorted with more conviction "I know it's dangerous, but that doesn't mean she can't have some freedom. It's not her fault she has that ridiculous bounty, nor is she responsible for everything that has happened to her. How long has it been since she had a really 'normal' day? A day that she doesn't have someone listening into her conversations, or being constantly watched by cameras? We have to let her breathe, Igawa. We can't be the ones to imprison her."

Igawa looked taken aback by the unexpectedly sympathetic rant from the usually care-free woman. Even Juliet herself was surprised at her rather protective speech, thinking with distaste how much she sounded like Sierra.

After a moment of silence, Igawa regains his composure and heatedly shot back "I'm not going to risk her life just so she can have a few hours away from us." Juliet's eye twitched, feeling her patience wearing thin.

"She isn't cattle."

"I never said she is."

"Well you sure are treating her as such."

Igawa slammed his fist onto the desk, face heated with rage "Jesus! What's with you? Do you want her dead, is that it?!"

Juliet took a few determined steps towards the techie, ready to retort with venom when she stopped in her tracks at a sudden distraught screech from Haruka.

"Shut up! Forget it! Forget I ever asked!" Haruka – she had been forgotten by the door during the heated argument – kicked off her shoes and ran up the stairs, disappearing behind a corner soon followed by a resounding slam that shook the house as a door was thrown shut.

The two adults were left staring at the spot at the top of the staircase where they last saw the distressed girl, stunned into silence in the aftermath of the argument. Igawa was the first to break the silence, heaving out a heavy sigh and collapsing into his desk chair where he covered his eyes with his left arm, hiding the shame written over his face.

Juliet, too, sat back down on the couch, but stayed sitting upright, unable to relax in the current situation. No words were spoken between the two as they both thought over the recent events, but the quiet was finally disturbed when the front door creaked open, revealing Mamoru in jeans and a thin t-shirt, hair slightly damp with sweat and his cold signature look masking his face.

He stepped into the room after shutting the door behind him quietly, gently placing his cane on the dinner table.

"You heard, didn't you?" Igawa mumbled, still not removing his arm from his face. Receiving only a grunt for confirmation, Igawa released a humourless chuckle, drained and breathless before continuing "Not a very good hobby, you know; listening in on people's conversations."

The tense silence returned as Mamoru took his time before answering while filling a glass with water in the kitchen. "I didn't necessarily try to listen in. Anyone could have heard if you speak so loudly."

Draining the cool beverage, Mamoru wiped his hand across the back of his neck, face cringing at the tacky sweat. He murmured that he needed a shower before retreating to his room to collect a change of clothes.

As the click of his door closing resounded through the large room, Juliet said in a sombre tone "I do understand why you are so worried, I just think she needs a little space sometimes, that's all."

Igawa finally took his arm off his eyes, stretching it up to the ceiling to observe the intricate details of his tattoos. "I know, I just…" he took another deep breath, dropping his arms to dangle at his side, "I just don't want to have to lose a sister again."

No more words were exchanged between the two, or anyone in the household for the rest of the night.

Juliet stood outside a shut door, hand raised in a knocking action, but not moving to actually knock on the door. It was well past midnight, the moon having already reached its peak, bidding farewell to the stars in the East, preparing to greet the lands on the other side of the planet, awaiting its beauty to cast its mysterious gleam over their lands.

Despite the serene calm outside, tension still ran strong though the house, the mood heavy and dense. After the argument earlier in the day - or the day before to be precise – the residents of the house kept pretty much to themselves, except for a single conversation between Igawa, Juliet and Mamoru less than an hour ago.

Haruka had stayed shut up in her room, neglecting to come out even to make dinner, so everyone ate whatever they could find in the kitchen. Dai had grumbled about having to eat cheap instant noodles, but an icy glare from Igawa had shut him up.

Now, standing outside Haruka's door, Juliet was unsure of how to begin a conversation with the girl on the other side. If it were before, Juliet would have barged into the room with no grace, but after witnessing the drastic change in the girl's personality, she felt uncertain if that was the right thing to do.

Sucking in a breath and steeling her nerves, Juliet rapped her knuckles against the hard door in three confident knocks and waited for an answer.

After a few moments Juliet caught the sound of rustling cloth and finally the padding of footsteps before the door knob turned slowly, a gap through the door revealing the room beyond it to be in total darkness. The light from the corridor shined through to fall on a tired face partially hidden behind the door.

The two females stayed quiet as Juliet took a moment to scrutinize the younger girl, noting her tired expression, dark bags under her eyes and pale complexion. Juliet couldn't help the twinge of concern at her sickly features, wondering how she had failed to notice it before.

Haruka, who had kept her eyes on the ground until now looked up at the silent woman in slight annoyance and began to pull the door shut but Juliet's hand shot up to block it, startling the girl. Juliet held onto the door firmly as she sighed heavily before facing the girl once more. "Haruka, look…" but she found herself lost for words, her mind still jumbled from the mess of an evening previous. "I understand how you feel, I really do. So does Igawa. He acted over the top, I know, but he was only like that because he was worried about you." The expression on the girl's face remained impassive, gazing quietly though the gap in the door. "We all worry about you. I get it, it's unfair the way you live, but what other choice is there? There's a bounty of five hundred million on your head, and you should know better than anyone else the risk you are in."

The muscles in Haruka's face tensed slightly, a dark cloud falling over her young features. Silvery eyes twitched a little in their sockets, as though she was watching something play out in front of her behind the woman. Juliet chanced a glance behind her to see if there was anything catching her attention and was confused at seeing only a blank wall. When Juliet looked back at Haruka, her eyes were once again fixed on the floor, her brows slightly furrowed in concentration.

Dismissing the odd moment between her one sided conversation Juliet continued, "Well, I talked to Igawa and Mamoru earlier. It took a while but I was able to convince them to try and give you a bit more privacy." Haruka's eyes widened at her words, but otherwise remained silent. "They agreed for us to go out together tomorrow, if you like?"

For the first time in the 'conversation' Haruka replied quietly "Where to?"

Relieved at finally being spoken to, Juliet continued a little more eagerly. "Anywhere you want. I was thinking we might go to that big shopping centre in town. You know, the one with those annoying mascots parading around all the time?" The corners of Haruka's mouth curled up into a small smile, relieving Juliet even more. "Especially since spring is coming, we need to re-stock on our wardrobe, right? A girl can't live without a good supply of clothes."

Haruka let out a breathy chuckle, something that Juliet realised with a sense of dread that she hadn't seen a lot of these days.

"Yeah, that sounds good." Haruka says, the soft smile still gracing her lips. "Thank you." She added after a small pause. This time it was Juliet whose eyes widened at the sincerity in those two words.

Without really knowing why, Juliet reached a hand though the open door and placed it on the girl's soft blonde head, lightly stroking the hair with her thumb. Haruka looked surprised at the affectionate act, but closed her eyes and leaned into the offered hand, appreciating the offered warmth.

After a few moments of comfortable silence, Juliet let her hand drop to her side and she swivelled on her heel, whispering a barely audible 'good night' over her shoulder before walking down the corridor on silent feet.

When she finally made her way into her room she let her body collapse onto the mattress with a heavy thud, curling her body up into a tight ball. She felt completely drained even though she did nothing to exhort herself that day, and lay awake in the quiet room contemplating the events of the last few hours. Something in Haruka's face didn't settle right with her, churning her gut with worry and a sense of foreboding.

Unable to pin point what it was, Juliet closed her eyes tiredly and let herself fall into the clutches of her slumber, entering a dream of angry faces and the never ending echoes of a child's lonely sobs.


	3. Normalcy

Chapter 3: Normalcy

The loud chatter of hundreds of people echoed though the large food court, blending together to form a constant ringing of talk. Groups of adolescents huddled together over their phones, children screamed in delight at being rewarded with a treat or distraught at being denied one, busy mothers briskly swerved through the crowd in a hurry to get their weekly shopping over with.

Nestled in a booth with a pile of designer shopping bags on both sides of them sat Juliet and Haruka with takeout wrappers spread out across the once clear table top between them. The older of the two females took notice of a group of passing young males eyeballing her curvy figure and grinned around the fry in her mouth. Sending a suggestive wink to a particularly good looking one in the group, she gleefully relished in the light blush that bloomed across the man's cheeks.

A noise between a whine and a chuckle took her attention off the now receding group of men to the girl in front of her who was looking at her with a sceptical look. "What?" Juliet asked bluntly as she pushed another warm fry into her mouth.

Haruka shook her head lightly with another chuckle as she leaned over her salad bowl keeping her eyes on the older woman. "Nothing" she replied lightly, but surrendered as she was lightly kicked in the shin under the table. "Fine, fine. It's just that; I swear that everywhere we went today every male that got anywhere near you was either drooling or tripping over themselves."

Juliet smiled triumphantly at the compliment, fully aware of her own allure and the effect she had on helpless men. "Story of my life." she said in mock exasperation, but laughed along with the girl sitting across from her.

They had left home for their outing sometime after breakfast once Juliet had shaken off Igawa's pestering questions of 'Are you sure you don't want back up?' or 'Can you at least have a tracker?' or even the 'If you give me some time I can hack into their CCTV cameras..?' which earned him an icy threat from Juliet to not even consider doing such a thing. Still, Juliet couldn't help suspiciously glaring up at every surveillance camera she saw which seemed to be conveniently pointed in their direction.

The duo visited almost every fashion store in the entire shopping centre, Juliet practically dragging the teen around by the arm until both of their hands were too full with purchased shopping bags. Haruka learned early on that there was no use in trying to lecture the older woman on the difference between 'need' and 'want', her first attempt at trying to restrict the woman resulting in double the purchases in what was probably Juliet's way of proving something, though Haruka had no idea what.

Swallowing the last mouthful of her high-calorie burger, Juliet took a large sip from her bottle of coke, noticing the lack of progress Haruka had made with her own meal. "Don't like the food?" she inquired between sips of her drink. Haruka hummed in response, pushing around the Cesar salad with a plastic fork in its flimsy container.

"No, just not really hungry I guess." she said, dropping the fork on the table to take a sip from her bottle of water. As Haruka replaced her drink on the table, she crossed her arms accusingly to pointedly glare at her team member. "How can you eat all that junk and still stay so slim?" Her eyebrows were lightly furrowed but the smile tugging at her lips betrayed her annoyed tone.

Flipping a few strands of her velvety black hair over her shoulder, Juliet leaned back with a knowing smirk twisting her lips "What, trying to impress someone?" The rosy blush that rapidly spread across the girl's cheeks drove Juliet into a fit of hysterical laughter, making Haruka's face heat up even more. Clutching desperately at her clenching stomach, Juliet pulled herself up vertically and tried to compose herself, though she knew she was doing a poor job. "Please don't tell me you're trying to look good for a blind guy?" Juliet's voice was still shaking with contained laughter, but once again lost her composure at the childish pout on Haruka's face. Despite herself, Juliet had to admit that Haruka looked adorable.

Purely on impulse, Juliet leaned over the table and tugged each of the teen's blushing cheeks, causing said teen's eyes to bulge in surprised confusion. Juliet watched fondly as Haruka rubbed at her now lightly stinging cheeks, her face still holding a questioning look. "What was that for?"

"What? Isn't that what adults do to whining kids?"

Haruka's eyebrows furrowed at first, but her frown was soon replaced with a teasing grin. "Oh, so are you admitting to being old? Because only the elderly do that to their grandchildren."

Juliet threw her head back and groaned, which in turn made Haruka laugh heartedly.

Juliet took another sip from her soft drink, and leaned across the table right into Haruka's personal space, her straight nose almost touching the girls. "Now, going back to more pressing matters. Haruka…" Juliet trailed off, her smile no longer taunting but only tender and cheeky, "are you really not going to date anyone other than Mamoru?" Before Haruka could splutter an embarrassed answer, Juliet pressed on. "I mean, you're fourteen now, right? Almost fifteen. You should be enjoying youth, playing around with all the guys you can catch; not waiting submissively for a middle-aged man who may or may not ever reciprocate your feelings. I mean, look at all the people in this food court alone! There are so many good looking high schoolers like yourself; all potential partners. Are you really sure you don't want to experience what it's like to date, get heartbroken, then have it mended again by someone else? I mean sure, it hurts, but they're still experiences that your current position denies you from having."

Haruka now gazed at Juliet silently, still blushing but taking what was asked of her seriously. With a deep inhale, she answered. "I am prepared to wait for Mamoru. Even if he doesn't have any intention of return my feelings, I'll still wait." Sensing what Juliet was going to say next, she continued. "I know it should be important for me to make as many fond memories as possible; to try and be as normal as I can, when I can. But honestly, I don't think I would be able to live so ignorantly anymore, even if I tried." Haruka took a long sip of her water, her eyes lightly glazed as she thought quietly to herself. "And anyway," Haruka said, lifting her head back up to stare determinedly into the dark eyes of her fellow team member, "knowing who he is, what he is to me now and what he will be, I don't want to be with anyone else."

Juliet was startled by the sheer conviction her voice held, and the unwavering silvery eyes that spoke of too many untold horrors, of a mature wisdom too heavy for a child her age to carry.

"Also," Haruka said bashfully "Mamoru isn't middle aged. He's still in his thirties."

Juliet laughed again at this, happy when she heard the tinkling chuckles of Haruka too.

After coming down from their joyous laughter, Juliet released a content sigh, indulging in the moment of pure normality. Judging by the comfortable silence that followed, Juliet guessed that Haruka must also be enjoying their rare peaceful and non-violent day together.

"Well, I've just about had enough grease to last me a few days, so I guess we should get going" Juliet said as she pulled herself up from the booth and starts to gather her bundle of shopping. Haruka nodded in agreement, pushing her unfinished lunch away from her to collect her share of bags.

As Haruka moved to exit the crowded food court, Juliet caught the back of her collar, effectively yanking Haruka to a rough stop. Coughing at suddenly being denied air, Haruka looked around to see with dread the mischievous glint sparkling in the older woman's eye. "I said I had enough of grease, not sugar." With another tug at the teen's collar, Juliet all but pounced towards the ice-cream store on the other side of the hall, dragging a gaping Haruka close behind.

With both females out of the house, the remaining three occupants keep mostly to themselves. Dai had locked himself in the small gym most of the morning, occasionally visiting the kitchen to restock on snacks before retreating to whatever he was doing in there by himself. After seeing Juliet and Haruka off in the morning silently, Mamoru also retreated into his room to indulge in a few more hours of peaceful sleep before going outside for his daily training. As for Igawa, he went about with his routine of checking up on their gear and clattering away on his keyboard for hours on end, though he noticed with mild irritation his unproductiveness as his mind continued to be clouded by thoughts of the previous evening.

Under the warm gaze of the sun, Mamoru finally finished his routine training of complicated moves specially designed to only leave the enemy immobile, rather than dead. With a heavy exhale the man pushed his dark sunglasses further up the bridge of his nose and focused on levelling his breathing, revelling in the satisfying burn of his muscles after a straining session of training.

Mamoru's dark eyebrows scrunch together as his sharpened hearing caught a barely audible rustle a few meters diagonally behind him. Supressing a sigh of exasperation, the swordsman lifted his sword to vaguely inspect the refined edge of his blade, not letting his attention stray from the obvious presence lurking behind him. The moment the sword was sheathed back into its cane, with a triumphant roar Dai jumped out from behind Mamoru with a powerful swing of his right arm aimed at his target's head.

This time sighing out loud at the blatantly obvious and overdone choice of attacking, Mamoru swiftly swung the cane over his shoulder with practised ease into the directory of Dai's arm, successfully guiding the swing past his head, and by hooking his leg around Dai's ankle, sent his attacker tumbling over into a row of trashcans lined up along the concrete wall bordering the yard.

Bringing the cane back onto the ground, Mamoru gazed disapprovingly at the digital image of Dai, who was struggling to pull his body out of the scattered trash, accompanied by low grunts of pain. "I purposefully give you an advantage, and yet you can't even decently aim a single punch at me." Dai glared up the blind man but remained silent, evidently waiting for the man to continue. "Your position of hiding was poorly chosen, as you don't have an easy access to your target. You took too long with delivering the punch as well. You were too focused on making the punch powerful that you disregarded the amount of time it takes to swing your arm from that distance. Your style of attacking is far too predictable as well. On a better note, you were more successful at concealing your presence while I was distracted; it took longer for me to notice. However…" the tone of his voice dropped to one of mockery "was the battle cry really necessary?"

While Dai darkly muttered curses under his breath, Mamoru looked behind the biker at the mess from the over turned bins. "Make sure you pick up all the garbage before you go back inside. Haruka doesn't need to clean up after your carnage."

All the while grumbling, Dai began by turning the bins back up right and moved to carelessly toss the un-spilled plastic bags into the cheap containers.

Just as Mamoru was about to retreat back into the house for a well-deserved nap, a disturbingly familiar scent stopped him in his steps with a sense of dread coiling in his gut. Sharply turning back on his heels, he made his way towards Dai to inspect the trash littering the surroundings. All he could see projected through his glasses were random shapes of different sizes, but nothing out of the ordinary. But something was there, he knew. The smell from before was far stronger, evidently closer to him. Abandoning the task of spotting what he was searching for, he tilted his head back and inhaled deeply.

Dai froze in his cleaning, staring up at the man incredulously with hints of disgust pulling at his expression. "Dude, the hell are you sniffing the trash for?"

Mamoru sneered at the question, but decided to answer him anyway. "I smell blood."

Dai's eyes narrowed at the statement, face contorting into a look of confusion until he, too, lightly smelled the air around him. After a moment of silence as he processed the different displeasing smells coming from the trash, his eyes bulged slightly as he caught the heavy scent he had begun to recognize more than he may have wanted after working with the network for the last few months. "Well shit."

Using his cane, Mamoru began pushing the scattered junk around the ground, searching for the source of the smell. "Dai, you look too. I can hardly recognize anything with these glasses." This time without complaint, Dai began shuffling around the rubbish, eyes darting around searching for anything remotely out of place.

A few minutes ticked away, both men losing their patience as they were unable to find the source of their stress. No longer caring for the added mess, Dai tore open a garbage bag, spilling the contents out onto the dirt.

The moment the plastic tore, a wave of the pungent smell attacked the biker's nostrils, causing him to stagger backwards and hold a hand over his nose and mouth to supress gagging. Mamoru quickly knelt next to the torn bag, seemingly too focused on his task to care of the foul smell. Digging his hands in the junk, he pulled objects out, turned them over to inspect each of them, until finally he pulled out a fistful of strips of cloth, the heavy smell coming from it telling him he had found what he was looking for. The fabric was rough on the pads of his fingers, and running it through his hand, he found areas where it had set to become hard and stiff. Despite his lack of sight, Mamoru had no doubt that what he had in his hands were rolls of bandages, soaked with dried blood. It wasn't a strange occurrence for there to be bloodied bandages in a house with a group of secret criminals fighting crime in the underworld living in it, but something was odd in this particular situation. Their bins were last emptied less than a week ago, so the bandages must have been used within a few days, and Mamoru was sure that they hadn't had any missions for at least a fortnight, certainly nothing which could cause this kind of injuries. Moreover, each member made sure to dispose of their bloody waste products extremely carefully, so as to not leave any evidence that could lead to their cover being blown. So why were these bandages disposed of so causally, and in a way that the other members wouldn't notice? But the question buzzing through the swordsman's head was "whose blood was it?"

Finally regaining his composure, Dai examined the fabric in Mamoru's grasp closely. The bandages were the same as those he and Mamoru would use when they attained injuries during their missions. The blood had long turned a blotchy brown, completely soaked though in some places, only lightly smudged in others.

His examining was interrupted when Mamoru firmly spoke to him from where he knelt on the ground. "Look through the bag. Tell me if you can identify what room this trash came from." With only a moment's hesitation, Dai did as he was told, pulling out different objects and monotonously stating what they are.

"There's a soap wrapper, empty toilet rolls, empty shampoo bottle," he continued for a while, until finally concluding "well, it's pretty obvious it's from the bathroom." Mamoru grunted his agreement, but otherwise stayed silent as he continued his musings.

With a heavy sigh, Mamoru finally pulled himself back into a standing position, letting the bandages gracefully flutter to the ground where it piled at his feet. "Put everything back as they were. I don't want to see a single piece of trash left in the yard by night."

Dai looked incredulously at the retreating form of Mamoru before calling out "Well what do we do about this?" addressing the bloodied bandages with a vague wave on his arm.

Once again Mamoru stopped in his tracks, turning his head so his unseeing eyes turned over his shoulder to Dai "Nothing. We do nothing."

Eyes flaring with irritation at the casual tone being used on him, Dai said "The hell do you mean, 'nothing'?"

"It means exactly what I said. We do nothing, and we say nothing. We act like you never made a fool of yourself and took a dive into the garbage, and so we never saw anything strange." Seeing that Dai was about to argue back, Mamoru quickly continued in a firmer tone. "At the moment we are limited with what we can do. We don't know enough of the situation to make any accurate judgements. Telling Igawa would only unnecessarily worry him. So for now, we wait. We wait to see if anything happens. It may just be that someone accidentally cut themselves in the bathroom and didn't think it was worth informing everyone about it, so they dealt with it and now it's all over. If it was anything serious, we should already know. So for now, we do nothing."

Seeing Dai looking down, apparently considering his argument, Mamoru began to move back towards the house when Dai's voice reached him again, this time much weaker, as though he was talking to himself. "Maybe it has something to do with Haruka. You know, with what happened yesterday and all."

Mamoru said nothing for a few painful moments, and just before he closed the door behind him did he finally call over his shoulder "Clean up the mess, Dai."


	4. Suspicion

Chapter 4: Suspicion

With a firm click, the door locked behind Haruka, simultaneously marking the end to her and Juliet's exhausting shopping trip. Dragging her tired arms still loaded with glamorous shopping bags, the blonde made her way to the modern 'L' shaped couch to join the older female collapsed on the comfortable seat. Letting the bags slip from her arms, Haruka heavily slumped onto the firm cushions with a tired exhale of breath.

"I think I've killed my legs." Juliet mumbled from her position splayed across the comforter, face buried in the white fabric. Haruka simply grunted in affirmation, far too tired to waste her breath with words. "But," Juliet continued, turning her head to flash a small smile at the girl "definitely worth it."

A breathy chuckle leaved Haruka's mouth as her lips stretched to form a weak smile. "Yeah, it was." She directed her silvery eyes over to the woman adjacent to her, the smile becoming meaningful and held a tone of sincere appreciation. "Thank you."

Before Juliet was able to form a sassy remark, the door across the room from them opened with a whine of its hinges and Igawa, clad in his signature baggy jeans and band tee-shirt entered, balancing a bulky laptop in his hands. "Welcome back you two." He said pleasantly, making his way over to his cluttered desk. Seeing the high pile of shopping bags dropped on the floor, he raised an eyebrow at the duo but simply shook his head and made himself comfortable in in his sleek black desk chair.

"So, how many stores lost all of their stock this time?" He questioned jokingly, but after taking another look at their day's purchases, meekly wondered if any actually did.

"Oh please, we didn't buy that much." Juliet huffed as she heaved her body upright, finding her prior position rather awkward to hold a conversation in. "Far less than what I wanted to buy, anyway. Haruka kept stopping me from buying more things." She grumbled, receiving a tinkling laugh from the teen and a badly suppressed chuckle from the techie.

"It's quite late, so I presume all of you already had some dinner?" Haruka inquired after craning her neck to check the digital clock hung on the far wall displaying 8:24.

"Yeah, we all rummaged around in the kitchen and found something to eat." Igawa idly replied just as a rapid storm of tapping keys and clicks started up from his position behind multiple computer monitors. "Sorry, do you want anything? I think there may still be some instant noodles in the pantry – if Dai hasn't eaten them all, that is."

At this both females shake their heads, still full from their lunch and numerous snacking throughout the day. Haruka especially had to suppress gagging at the thought of any more food, although she was sure Juliet would still somehow be able to stuff another meal into her body if she wanted to.

Haruka hummed quietly, but when she heard the sound of a door swinging open she turned to face the new arrival and greeted him with a warm smile. "We're back, Mamoru-san." Mamoru nodded silently once as he walked up to the couch and stopped behind the girl, unseeing eyes staring down at the digital form in front of him.

As the silence in the room stretched, an uncomfortable air made the room feel stuffy to the occupants. The machinegun-like ratting of keys slowed down in hesitation; Juliet tensed at the sudden ominous feeling; Haruka fidgeted where she sat unsure of what to do, and Mamoru's face remained hard and grim, lips pressed into a firm line as he continued staring intimidatingly at the girl, either oblivious to or uncaring of the thickening atmosphere his brooding was causing. Both Igawa and Juliet were weary of experiencing a repeat from the previous evening, and were on edge as they waited for whatever ley ahead.

Everyone sighed in relief when the silence was broken as Mamoru asked indifferently "How was your day?"

The evening progressed uneventfully, with Haruka energetically retelling the events of the day and Juliet occasionally butting in to defend her needs to buy anything that strike her fancy. "You never know when will be the next time you have a day off to go shopping. And anyway, I have a legitimate reason for needing a wide range of clothing." She promptly received two pairs of incredulous stares, so continued with a roll of her eyes. "I specialize in infiltration and investigation, so I need to be able to have a variety of looks as disguises. I can't keep hitting targets in the same clothes. That's pretty much broadcasting to the entire underworld 'Hey, this is what I look like, watch out for me babe!' And there is no way you are going to catch me wearing a moustache with spectacles." Her frustrated rant was quickly followed by a burst of laughter from the two youngest occupants of the room, both trying desperately to suppress their giggles conjured up by the image of Juliet in a trench coat with a thick black moustache and equally creepy glasses adorning her tanned face. Even Mamoru lightly chuckled at the thought.

The stifling atmosphere was completely forgotten, replaced with a light and merry air. Igawa and Haruka finally calmed down from the uncontrollable laughter, only to be met with a childish pout from Juliet and Dai's confused face peeking out from behind the same door Mamoru had exited from to inspect what was the cause of the thunderous laughter.

Igawa began to further question the woman's need of clothing when a harsh beeping rang out from his abandoned laptop, causing every head – including Dai's – to whip around in the direction of the noise. Igawa swivelled around in his seat, scrolling down the screen to inspect the document that has popped up.

When the ringing was finally put to an end with a few haste clicks, the room was left in a strained silence, all waiting in anticipation of what Igawa was going to tell them – though they all had a good idea as to what it was.

There was no surprise when Igawa finally spoke in a monotone voice, drained of all mirth;

"We have a new mission."


End file.
